


katharsis

by oviostron



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Body Horror, F/M, Genjutsu, M/M, Plotty, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:08:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22901476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oviostron/pseuds/oviostron
Summary: Uchiha Obito is a lot of things. Easy prey is not one of them. Uchiha Madara had chosen the wrong child under the right boulder—but when the moon finally fades from that horrible red, and Obito opens his eyes, he realizes that everything in front of him is his fault, and his fault only.OR: the devil works in many different ways. this must be one of them. obito isn't amused.[a rewrite, originating from fanfiction.net under Dreaming of a Black Fox; originally named "The One Who is Bound"]
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Obito, Namikaze Minato & Uchiha Obito, Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina, Uchiha Obito & Other(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 46





	1. Solivagant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yis i am active!! i lost interest for a bit, so this was definitely a nice refresh.

Solivagant

_—to wander alone._

* * *

Where is the line?

Where is it drawn?

The line, so thin yet so vital, has no place. In a grey world…well, the grey world is the line, isn't it? The blurred line that decides what is too much, what is too little, what is perfect. It's a quiet little place, supposedly cozy and harmless. Obito has determined otherwise that the quiet little place is not cozy, nor is it quiet.

The grey world, where everything is perfect, and quiet, and cozy, and harmless, is unsurprisingly false and misleading. There is silence and confusion because there's no such thing as…well, anything beyond neutral in this grey world—and where Obito stands, he is nothing neutral. It's a strange, strange world for a strange, strange man, and it's uncomfortable for every involved party.

That's why there's no line. In this grey world, where Obito stands is the line, and he is no wall.

With no guidance, help, pointers, ideas, hopes—without a conscience, even, Obito makes the line. And, collectively, he has decided it is equally worth it and worthless. His resolution stems from the very moment he hears the explanation of a kind reality. A sweet one, full of loved ones and ease. But Obito understands wholesomely well that ease and sweetness is used primarily to tease, trap and kill.

Madara is entirely immersed in his plan. Desperation is in the crust of his age; Obito can see it with his one eye. The ancient man wants this, and time knows no foe.

The beginning faces the end, but the former squints with criticism. The concept of sweetness rots his teeth, and Obito shakes his head. "I still won't work with you. It's infuriating, just thinking about you and your stupid and ridiculous plan. A fake reality?" Obito's half scarred lips press together, his face scrunching up with disapproval. "Pathetic."

Madara shows no reaction to the disdain. He sits, he stares and he watches. His breath is even, his eyes are steady. Sharingan's gaze is piercing, tired, but it makes Obito shiver. "I do not care what you think," he rumbles. "As I see it, you are my pawn. And I believe you owe it to me."

The way he says it leaves no room for debate. It's not like Obito believes otherwise; he thought nothing more of living underneath that boulder, and Madara had indefinitely changed that. It's fact, but is there really any need to pay him back? Between the delusions of a desperate man and the frayed skeleton Obito currently is, anyone would say yes to some sort of acknowledgement. He is tempted, but he isn't swayed, and he still doesn't like where this idea could go.

The idea of defiance is appealing in this case.

"I stand with what I said," he states. Tensions rise. "I just don't see why I, a deadman, should be obliged to help an old, crumbling fuck like you who refuses to be a part of actuality."

There's a pause, a long eerie pause. It defines Obito's fear, and rightfully so. Madara silently taps his sword, which is in the guise of a cane, and dread rips through the young Uchiha. It's a soft tap, but the echo creates an omen.

From the nothingness of the ground, Tobi reforms and slowly starts to back away. "Big mistake, kiddo," he warns.

Obito grimaces. The ends of his hairs stand on end, goosebumps rubbing against the black and red cloak born of the Kiri slaughter. He flinches away from the hands that grab his wrist, the arms slithering from the floor and restraining him from movement. From the thick cloud of hands, he feels cuffs wrap around his wrists. There's a stabbing pain, and a clicking sound, and he grits his teeth to bare through the sharp. The restraining hands back away, but they are ghostly white. The last pair of hands on his wrists are pitch black, deeper than an Uchiha's eyes.

With a glare, Obito glances up to the creepy owner of the hands. But fear freezes his determination, and it becomes abundantly clear that this creature he faces is no human. It has no face, no hair, no true skin color—nothing humane. His saliva becomes clay, but he swallows it nervously to ask through the fear, "Where the hell did you come from?"

Evil settles on the rotund yet shapeless yellow eyes. " **Your nightmares** ," it rumbles. It chuckles, the omens of its deep pitch shaking the lightless cave. Obito shivers under its touch and glare, and when it lets go to sink back into the deep, he can finally breathe.

The source of the click had been revealed when the thing let go. They were hand cuffs, with a leisure length of sturdy chain, but they were decorated. Letters of fūinjutsu are carved into the cold, dead metal, and Obito becomes keenly aware of how much of a puppet he is. Madara wants to secure his pawn, and he's doing it in the most abusive way possible.

The tampered metal is abundant with harm. There are chakra seals, meant to drain and place him in an absolute restraint; there are human seals, designed for torture and ruthless yet deathless pain. In total, there are three. He could only identify Hageshī Shinzō Saiha and Kyūkyokuteki no Datsuryoku, and the only reason why he could is because these very two seals were designed by Namikaze Minato and the Sannin Jiraiya themselves.

"Oh, no…" The dreaded words come out in a panicked moan. His single eye widens, and he finds that his Mangekyō Sharingan is activated. "You can't be serious," he says to Madara.

"He was never kidding around," Guruguru quietly interjects. His ghastly white fingers move and touch Obito's cuffs, to which he flinches, but he doesn't move away. He touches the kanji of the seals, and that is when his quiet voice becomes sympathetic and…sad. "You poor soul. You'll be tortured in every single way possible if you're not careful."

The seal he touches on is the one Obito hates the most. It induces psychological torture with the simplicity of genjutsu, and until the seal is broken, it's a forevermore haunt for the victim. It creates pain and heartbreak and Obito is not ready for that. Not now, not ever.

Obito says nothing. Instead, he pulls away from Guruguru. His defying flame returns for the briefest of moments, and a part of him debates on acting, but it dies away when dread overcomes the thought of what Madara would try to do. He simply deactivates his Sharingan, and sighs. "What now?"

Madara's demeanor becomes smug. He wins. "I train you," he states. The skeleton stands up, his face hardening with warning. "If you even think to disobey, I will kill you slowly and painfully, and you will feel it."

Fuck.

* * *

So. Home.

It makes Obito wonder. Oftentimes, he stops and thinks at the wonder. Is Konohagakure home? Is it where he can fall apart and rebuild himself? He's so worn down and out of touch with the concept of healing. So far gone is he. Could he even find the pieces to rebuild? The thought haunts him, and it makes him weary. He only thinks it impossible now. He's just a rat at this point. Rats deserve nothing beyond the bottom feeder's leftover.

Uchiha Obito is, indeed, a rat—one who can kill with ease in the very least. He has no business in the department of being alive, and however desperately he wants to go back to being just that, he…can't. And it's quite literally because of Madara. For two years, through the thick, thicker and thickest of times, Madara was there to keep him from existence. Obito learned that he did everything wrong, and that Madara's way was, is and always will be the correct way to do everything. The fact that there are carved cuffs on his wrists makes it even harder for Obito to be what he wants, which is not to be Madara, but Madara wants Obito to be Madara.

He is exhausted and disassembled, but the one thing he can appreciate out of all of this is the fact that everyone thinks he is dead. They don't need to know what's going on, they've been through more than enough.

But then, a few months after Obito's death anniversary, he is prompted dread and tragedy.

"You are to extract the Kyūbi."

And the plan to accomplish that is simple: Use the upcoming birth to extract it. The seal is weakest then, so of course the birth of a new life is equally the best time. Guruguru's intel is thorough, and he has determined the when, the where and the how of Obito's overall mission.

October 10th, after ten o'clock at night, in a protected cave right outside Konohagakure's surrounding forest during the spawn of the Yondaime's entry to the world.

He hates himself—he just wants to die, and his chest is tight with undying sadness because of it, and it aches deeply like an old man's joint in the cold. Where was death when he wanted it the most? He's not finding it, and his search hurts.

Still, he is dragged onwards. "Are you ready?" Madara inquires.

Obito releases a shaky and sad sigh, his fingers touching the cuff. No, he is not. But that isn't the right answer.

"Yes, you are ready," Madara answers himself. He pulls out a mask—it's a fiery orange, with simplistic black flame patterns that swirl around the single eye hole that is meant for him and him only. From the texture alone he can tell that it's made from Tobi, now dubbed as Guruguru, and it's painted seamlessly. "Now, go. You have a day to scope your attack. Strike hard and ruthless, boy."

He grimaces, but he still nods and takes the mask. There's a big black strap that is meant to fasten around his head, but that's the only other feature he notices before he understands what it is to symbolize after this…this bullshit. Madara's cold stare remains, and it doesn't go away until Obito's new mask is put on. When it's secured, Tobi grabs the gunbai Obito had to so diligently be forced to train with, and his arms are taken up. The gunbai is connected to his chains, long enough to work with but still symbolizing restraint.

He doesn't need a reminder. He has tried, specifically using his Mangekyō, to teleport into his little pocket dimension…but, alas, Madara used the terrible, terrible seals. Obito couldn't properly move for weeks without feeling the weight of the world. He made sure it never happened again, deities forgive him.

Obito knows he's broken. At this point, Madara just shattered his broken pieces.

"You must hurry," the skeleton grounds out. It's the very last thing Obito hears come from the dusty old man before the light of a pathetic life withers away. Not even a handful of minutes had passed after disconnecting from the disgusting tree that Madara passed away. Watching the corpse deflate gives Obito a sense of relief. The bastard is gone, and it is now time to move.

"Tobi," Obito mumbles.

The creature slips from the deep, his swirled mask facing Obito. The attention is clear, though, and Obito knows that his loyalty and trust is gained. His demeanor is soft and forward-facing to the sadness in his one eye. "Yes?"

"Who else controls these fūin?"

A wistful sigh leaves the thing, but he is otherwise thoughtful and considering either a white lie or the truth. But he deserves the bluntness, doesn't he? Tobi believes so. "Madara, Shiro Zetsu, Kuro Zetsu…and I believe your sensei," he states. "He did create it after all."

That'd been his suspect list anyways. As such, it's nothing new. He simply nods, slightly in a daze. "No one talks about anything that has happened inside of this cave…outside of this cave…no matter what. Please."

Tobi gives his head bob of understanding, giving a look to the reappearing Shiro Zetsu. He pulls himself from the grips of the ground, his one eye narrowing. His entire other body half is deformed, as it is a part of Obito now. ""What are your intentions, young Uchiha?" he inquires.

Obito stares for a second, wondering if he really should tell. But it's not like he has anything to lose, right? In fact, it feels like he has everything to lose at this point. His head is heavy and it hurts to wonder if he really does. "I'm going to attack Konoha," he says. ""I won't be successful."

"…Interesting," Shiro says slowly. "Kuro won't be happy, my friend."

"He's never happy! He's such a party pooper!" Tobi exclaims. "He can kiss my ass." He swings said ass around in mocking movements.

Obito smiles slightly at that, but it doesn't stay. It goes away seconds before it could even really be recognized—and it's not like the artificial beings could. Obito activates his Mangekyō and teleports the duo into his pocket dimension before suitably following.

Seconds later, his zori tap softly on the aged stone of the Hokage Monument. The Shōdaime's head is soft yet worn down under his feet. The coolness of fresh air shocks him a little, and the flourescence of Konoha stings his eye a little. He hasn't seen any kind of civilization in his two years of training. The only reason he ever knew it was just about two years was because of Tobi's honesty. Obito swallows his nerves, and tries to puff up his chest. It barely works, but he's left unbothered for a good moment.

When he finally feels full of Konoha air once again, he uses his Mangekyō to bring Shiro and Tobi out of that pocket dimension.

He takes a deep breath. "I'm home," he murmurs. He stares down at the semi-active village. Half of it is sleeping, but there is still enough light that paints the horizon for market and tavern joys to continue. He recognizes Ichiraku's, the Uchiha Compound, downtown Konoha, Kakashi's apartment that is just about on the other side of the village from the old Hatake compound…Minato and Kushina's house. There is the academy, and the hot springs, and the residence of the Hokage, which is where he knows the blooming Namikaze family is. He remembers it all, clear as yesterday, and he hopes Konoha remembers him just as well. Nothing has changed beyond the death of Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin, to which, even now, has only become a painful story for only a handful of people to tell.

This must be what post-mortem is like.

Still, despite the deep, there is still the light. A newborn baby…a soul born anew into the world. Obito's truest smile happens at the thought of that. It grows enough that his eyes wrinkle gently.

"Remember your presence, Obi," Shiro says. "At least pretend you are on task."

He simply turns to the deformed thing, and sighs quietly through his nose. "Fair enough," he whispers half to himself. "Prepare yourselves, please."

Tobi and Shiro nod, utilizing Henge no Jutsu to come across as the average Konoha ANBU member.

Obito gives them each a glance of his Sharingan. "What are you doing?" he asks. The fact that they're Henge'd into ANBU is slightly worrying.

"You spy on the ninja, and we'll be your cover," Tobi states.

He can only appreciate the gesture. "I want to see them first," he says. "Before the storm."

"No harm done," Shiro remarks. Behind his snake mask, he smirks. "I will act as intel while you drown yourself. Importance in intelligence, of course!"

Obito jerks his shoulders. "Hn."

"Aw, c'mon Uchiha-chan!" Tobi hoots, skipping over to the fifteen-year-old and gently punching the fake flesh of his shoulder. "You're no fun!"

Obito gives the simplistic creature an irritated expression as he pushes him away, stalking off with insults swishing in his mouth.

Shiro joins in on the fun. "Ah!" he yells, his tone a fitting dramatic. "You broke him, idiot!"

Obito smiles slightly at their following bickers, but there's a soft buzz in his body that he had been exclusively trained to never ignore. He stops dead in his tracks, and raises his hand to motion the idiots away. They're swift in disappearing.

His eye lands on the exact spot the spectator has been the entire time he's been on the head of the Shodai. "You may come out, they won't do anything until I allow it," he states. The ghost hesitates at first, but understands futility in staying hidden any longer. They leap down—and…oh. It's Kakashi.

"Who are you?" Hatake Kakashi demands. He narrows his eye. "Why have you broken into our village?"

"Village…" Obito repeats bitterly and quietly. The word leaves a sour taste in his mouth. He feels flashes of physical pain shoot through his chest like shooting stars, hot and burning and relentless. Glancing to Konoha once again, the psychological torture Madara had induced almost years before flickers. There's fire, and burning people, and dying crying children and memories withering to ash because…because. Obito could only think "because" as a viable explanation, and that is that. His hands shake a little as he touches his wrists, the chains tinkering with each other to create a gross sound. "I know this place like the back of my hand…"

Obito looks back to his old friend. Oh, how very much does he want to say who he is. He couldn't, though. He knows he can't. Kuro Zetsu would catch up and learn of his retard mess. Thus, more pain, more torture, more terror. He couldn't bring it upon himself and others to such a horrendous sight. He so dearly wanted to disappear and never feel a single thing again—whether it be love or hate, the deep seems better. It makes him frown.

"So you live here?" Kakashi asks. Obito shakes his head. "Lived here?" Obito nods his head. "Well, if that's the case, you didn't have to break in."

Obito puts his hands down, shaking his head again. He watches Kakashi's curious gaze scrutinize his chains. "Who said I was breaking in? You made that conclusion yourself," he points out. His voice had come out much more quiet than he would've liked.

Kakashi makes no move to respond verbally. He raises his hands in apology and peace, and at that, he moves forward slowly yet surely. In return, Obito steps away in fear of being touched. "Scared?" Kakashi asks.

"No," he snaps back. "I'm just cautious."

"You sound like you're in denial."

"I'm not."

"Yet you still sound like it," Kakashi says.

"I'm telling you, I'm just cautious," Obito argues. "You're a stranger to me just as equally as I'm a stranger to you."

Kakashi boldly starts to walk towards the Uchiha. "Well if you mean no harm to me or my village, I mean no harm to you."

The mutuality is merely returned with a timid nod. Obito's ankles are locking up as he resists the fear that'll physically drive him to the edge. He doesn't feel ready to be this close to someone else again—but when is he ever rightfully ready for anything? It happens anyway.

He flinches openly and harshly when Kakashi grabs his hand to examine the hand cuffs. Obito is only a few struck nerves away from just punching Kakashi right in the damn face. But not now, he remembers. That is meant to stay under the table for a little bit longer.

Realization dawns on Kakashi. "These seals are lethal…how the hell are you still alive?"

Obito yanks his arm away with a stinging glare. He feels violated—but what's he to expect when he let it happen?

Kakashi quickly backs away when he figures out that he's just intruded. His hands come back into sight. "Sorry, sorry…" he says.

Obito just nods and steps far, far away. He isn't entirely sure how to respond. It makes him cringe. Why can't he be normal again? Where he isn't sensitive and constantly in pain, and struggling to remember the sweet feeling of hope and optimism.

The conversation starts once again as Kakashi puts his hands in his vest pockets. "So," he says, ""you're an Uchiha."

Obito stares at the ground.

"Did you defect?"

He shrugs. "Stuff happened because reasons," he mumbles. "Shit happens, you know? Right place wrong time." It's all he can say right now—even though he could write a book on those horrific two years alone about how he'd wanted to return but…couldn't. There's no context here, either, and it makes the conversation lose its point.

Kakashi raises an eyebrow and frowns a little. "Got anything else?"

"It was unintentional," Obito continues.

"So—what? A shady bastard is or was hunting you down, and now you're here?" Kakashi inquires. "Am I right?"

"…Sure."

"Oh my! I was? What's my prize?"

The masked boy blinks. But then he understands the game. Kakashi is playing it, and attempting to get Obito to participate as well. He lets malice fall through the cracks of his presence. If Kakashi wants to the play the game of trespass, Obito will participate. "I can help you with your Mangekyō Sharingan," he states.

The game ends when he says that. Kakashi freezes up. "How did you know about my Mangekyō?"

Obito chuckles. "You played yourself, Hatake, because I didn't know. Don't play a game you can't win."

Kakashi becomes wary.

"Uchiha-chan~!" Tobi calls. He jumps down from the trees, Shiro following close behind. They're both still in disguise. "We gotta go! They're onto us!"

"Were you successful?" he demands, keeping his eye steady with Kakashi's own.

"Of course," Shiro says. "Now let's go. Quickly."

Obito glances at them, and teleports them into his pocket dimension. When they're both gone, he looks to Kakashi once more. He smiles, and makes sure it's conveyed through his one eye. "Until next time."

"Wait, what?"

Obito waves. "Goodbye." He's gone in his dimensional swirl without a single pause, and then he's back on the cold, flat stone of his own pockets.

His head is spinning with the weight of his thoughts. He sighs tiredly and helplessly. Talking to Kakashi like that…it definitely hadn't been a very good idea once he starts to process it. Nothing but pain and complications now. His head spins a little bit more, and he has to take a second to let himself catch up, but it's ruthlessly cut off when sharp pains that originate from his cursed cuffs shoot up his arm. He lets out a yell of pain, keeling over into himself as the fūin assaults him. It's nothing new—the pain is, at least. But why now? Because Shiro looks at him with worry and there isn't any fūin master in the know of its appliance…other than Kuro, of course.

Obito falls onto his back, his arms sprawled and his expression tight as he deals with the persistent pain. Kuro knows. He knows and he isn't afraid to harm him for it, and it makes him flinch and shake just thinking about it. Kuro knows. He knows and he's letting it all happen, but he doesn't understand why.

Tears stream down his temples and soak his hairline. This all just means more pain and more complexities after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a rewrite of my original ff.net story, under the pen name "Dreaming of a Black Fox".
> 
> the original story: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11334766/1/The-One-Who-Is-Bound


	2. Magoa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is long!! but i plan on keeping it long :) the original chapter count was 15. i want more.
> 
> wc: 8.5k

Magoa

— _a heartbreak that leaves physical traces._

* * *

A gentle cold nibbles Kakashi's fingers. He feels more and more empty as each moment passes in the quiet evening. It isn't eating away at him, though. It's the rock. The rock he stands in front of is nothing but an old heartbreak now. The memorial stone, where many of his friends and family are. Their names are carved as echoes, each letter done with care.

His eye remains on Uchiha Obito for the longest time. There is…a lot of weight there. Undying weight that suffocates and bruises his esophagus. Why can't it go away a little faster? He always asks that question, and he knows the answer—but there is bliss in denial, and in realizing that alone, Kakashi understands that there is no getting rid of the undying weight.

If he holds on, it'll just become one of those mental tumors. A blight on potential healing, so to say, and one that Kakashi knows he and his family doesn't want for himself.

Kakashi sighs. His knees are starting to ache and the horizon peeking Konoha is almost entirely indigo above the sky's rain-savvy dust. So, to conclude his visit, he gently and respectfully bows his head. And then…he leaves. It's routine at this point, and there's nothing new to it. Not right now at least.

Kakashi just has no clue where the name of his good friend, that is well-known only to the rock by now, will be taking him just yet.

* * *

Minato is a loving, young Hokage, and is one of the youngest Kage out there. He has a wife, an incoming son, an endearment for ramen and a student who loves him as a father. Life is stressful, of course it is, but he is content.

Kakashi likes it here. He loves that maternal warmth and generosity that wafts in the air. It reminds him of the better moments of life. He's comfortable here. He can lean back in a chair without forefront worry. "You know," he starts casually, "I run into the most interesting people, sensei."

Minato has his attention primarily on his decorated bowl of ramen. Absently, he nods and comments, "Very nice."

Kakashi smiles a bit. His story isn't one to be ignored. The details will catch mind. "I met this…stranger. He's quiet, masked, holds himself high. He's about my age, maybe a little bit older."

"I'm glad you're making friends in your age group," Minato says with his selective ear.

"Young and skilled, with partners of his own, of course. But I think he's quiet, in hiding and shielding himself, because he's constantly been in a life-threatening situation," Kakashi continues. "He has cuffs on his wrists. His skin is scarred and raw underneath. They definitely haven't shown him mercy in a while. There were…tormenting seals carved into the metal."

Minato's attention becomes attuned to Kakashi's new friend. "Torment fūin…" he murmurs to the soup of the ramen. There are a minimal amount out there in the world. Minato is responsible for the majority of that minimal, and he's not particularly proud of it…morally, at least.

"Yeah…"

Minato ponders the slurp of the last remains of his ramen. His fūin were supposedly destroyed years ago by the Uzumaki. "Did you see them with your Sharingan?"

"Yes," Kakashi says. "It was weird. He let me scan them with the knowledge and understanding that I have a Sharingan."

"Draw them out," Minato states with full seriousness. "If they are what I think they are, may gods and deities gift mercy to his soul."

As Kakashi does what he is told, Minato puts the bowl and utensils away. Perhaps this run-in had no sense of accident in it. Kakashi is known to have connection with Minato—this is fact, but it's not public nor official that it's personal enough to be on a familial level. If this young man wanted his cry for help, or his attempt to raise alarms, to be heard in a specific way, then he is doing it right. It seems like he has extremely deep secrets, and that leaves Minato worried. It makes him wonder what information this stranger might have. Movement based on espionage tends to be most critical. Not to mention the fact that there is an informed rogue out in the world, approaching Konoha’s back door step no less, to catch important attention. It makes the closeness of Naruto's birth impossibly coincidental.

"Sensei? Sensei—I'm done…” Kakashi is calling out to him.

“Thanks,” Minato replies shortly, and practically yanks the paper from the young Hatake's hand. When he looks at the paper, he sighs in distraught. So they weren’t completely destroyed after all. "I made these."

"What?"

"Me and Jiraiya made these," he explains. "They were deemed too inhumane, though. It's got a high lethality rate. With more time, we could've maybe made it safer…but…you know. It would've taken too much of a toll. I don't understand how anyone got these, though. I made sure they were only known to me and Jiraiya. The Uzumaki made sure they were destroyed." He shakes his head. "I guess they were not…"

Kakashi has nothing to say nor ask. Minato is, quite obviously, upset by the fact that it has become knowledge to potentially dangerous Konoha enemies, and is being used to manipulate someone. Maybe even abused. Whoever is controlling the seals of the poor intruder had to have no humanity; just the thought of how cruel and evil the controller would have to be to put all of these destructive seals on one person makes Minato sick to the heart of his stomach.

Psychology is the penumbra of fūinjutsu; it's involved in one of the parties, direct or indirect, someway or somehow, but the direct use of psychology is considered to be ruthless and almost taboo. It’d been deemed kinjutsu by most villages after the Second War, back when the Uzumaki Clan showcased it multiple times to Konoha’s enemies. Thinking about that level cruelty makes Kakashi twitchy and nervous. And for Minato to create such a dark seal…this had to have been called from desparate measures.

Both remain silent. The only sounds were gentle outdoor winds and the AC turning on.

Minato breaks it swiftly, folding the paper and turning his face to the Hatake. "Do you know where he could be right now?"

"No, he used an untraceable teleportation jutsu…probably Sharingan-related, because he had two strange companions with him and they were calling him Uchiha. Not to mention, it came from his eye.”

That makes Minato frown. "A rogue Uchiha? The last rogue was Madara…"

"I thought the same thing. I saw his Sharingan, though. And it looked…natural? But then again…only one eye was showing through a mask hole. He…he also guessed about my Mangekyō, and I only confirmed his guess when I blurted my surprise about how he might’ve known.”

“Madara was the most educated on the Mangekyō Sharingan…” Minato says slowly.

“I was thinking that too.”

The Yondaime grimaces. "That's not ideal knowledge for a rogue to have."

Kakashi smiles a bit, and makes sure he shows it with the creasing of his eye. "I know I messed up, but I do have his scent and chakra signature memorized. If I don't see him, I'll sense him. Just breathe for now, sensei. Don't get too cramped up in this mess."

Minato nods, slow and distracted. "Alright," he mumbles. He stands. "Good night, Kakashi…"

"Good night, sensei."

* * *

He's shaking—kind of shivering from the cold, kind of shaking from the fear.

The wall is hard and cold against the back of Obito. It provides no comfort. He hates the feeling of this god-forsaken dimension brings. It echoes at the worst time, and it’s…empty, almost every day. He lets out a shaky sigh, and engulfs his face in despairing hands. Sticky, crusted blood touches his scarred brow, and he feels a pang of hopelessness punch him with the sensation on his face. He sinks further to the ground, and takes another deep breath. When his hands pull away from his face, he pulls gauze from what would be his weapon’s pouch. It’s a pouch for emergency aid now.

Obito winces at the gentle sting as he fixes his raw, bleeding wrist up, but it’s not imperative. “So,” he starts. “Kuro seems to know. Who spilled the beans?”

His oddball companions shake their heads. Tobi scoots closer, his mask undoing itself and wrapping around Obito. He feels uncomfortably hugged, but he also feels physically stable. Not in control, of course, but the shaking…it became controlled enough. He didn't do anything to protest when Tobi closes around his face. He's come to understand, in the horrendous two years with Madara and Kuro Zetsu, that this has been Tobi's way of providing stability and comfort to Obito. As far as he’s concerned, it’s the only love and warmth he’ll ever receive in the upcoming future.

"My clonse are still in the works," Shiro Zetsu states. "They can't speak. Not yet. The only way Kuro-baka could ever obtain information at this point would be to follow and eavesdrop on us. And we all know that he can do so flawlessly."

"I bet he did," Tobi comments. His voice echoes inside of Obito's ears. "It sounds like something he would do. The bastard is full of cruel mirth. Not very sexy, if I do say so myself."

Neither Tobi nor Obito could stop his shaking from getting a little worse. He lowers his chin onto his knees. He sighs. "This is too much," he whispers.

Tobi frowns. "Hm?"

"…I mean…I've died. Rin is dead. Madara is using me, Kuro Zetsu tortures me. And now I have to kill Minato-sensei and Kushina for the Kyūbi, and take their chances away at being parents. I have to control the bijū, order it around and make it destroy as much of Konoha as possible…" He sobs a little. "Just fan-fucking-tastic."

“On the brightside," Shiro Zetsu chimes, "you are one step closer to reuniting with your friends."

Guruguru chuckles. "How interesting, Obi-chan! He's pep-talking you!"

“…Hn.” Obito sinks to the point of where his back is completely flat on the ground, and the back of his head is pressed up against the wall. “What information have you obtained so far?”

Shiro sits in front of Obito, crossing his legs and resting his elbows on the sides of his knees. "The birth will be held just outside of Konoha. Y'know it—right by the lake that formed from the Naka River. The mid-wives for Kushina-san are Sarutobi Biwako, Haruno Saki and Kuchiki Yo. Mina-chan will be stablizing the seal during labor. There will be five ANBU guards; their names are Go, Inu, Mizu, Ki and Ryū. Jiraiya will be there to guard and help with the seal as needed. The defenses that were set up in the location are a fortitude, but they're breakable as long as you crush the material with your Kamui. Or, you could phase through it. My estimation of success is lower than fifty percent, but over eighty percent if you wait until Naruto is out. Waiting until then would be best. My collective intel gives me the impression that the guards will be at their the lowest when they go to cut the umbilical cord."

Obito tilts his head best he could despite being cramped. "Naruto?"

"The kid's name."

"I see…that's very good. I'm assuming you two have your own plans to help, then?”

"Yes," Shiro Zetsu states. "It's simple. We help you by being sources of entertainment. The original plan is to get caught, isn't it? We'll be the ones to keep the real dangers away. Like Danzō, or Orochimaru."

“I’m going to take Naruto,” Tobi chirps. “He’ll be protected with me, you just need to make sure you use Kamui.”

“Oh, why, thank you," he murmurs. He yawns and sighs, closing his eye. Tears start to shed. "I'm so, so…tired…"

Shiro and Guruguru go quiet. It's not suspicious silence, it's generous silence, and that was all that he needed for his loud head to become quiet. The sleep is uneasy, and full of ghoulish images.

Lightning crackles, and there's a series of shrilling cries to follow. It’s Chidori—or is it an abnormal lightning storm? He can’t tell. Regardless, Obito has decided to hate lightning, natural or not, and dark waters, because of what has happened to Rin. The blood, the Chidori, the slaughter…

Of course, though, his nightmare places him in a swamp, during a stormy night where the ground yearns to be struck by lightning. The atmosphere makes him extremely nervous, borderline terrified.

Oddly enough, the storm is quiet in his dream. It makes the air intense, with the strings of lightning shattering and regenerating the tension every time it lands. But the waters are murky, and the lightning is flashing, and with each passing second Obito feels more and more violated with fear and frustration and anger. Bubbles begin to rise in the murky water in front of him, popping with ugly sounds, and they were pushing to the surface faster and faster with each passing second, and, soon enough, a blonde bundle of hair emerges. It’s…not Minato, though.

“O-bi-to…”

He freezes, and he can’t move. The figure crawls, arms and legs mangled and covered in the dark substance of the swamp.

“O…bi…to…”

A gentle whimper leaves his throat as the blond creature steps toward him. Its blue eyes shine vibrantly, and they glare.

“…Obito!” it suddenly screams, ghastly and choked and loud. “ _Obito_!”

He jolts awake, scrambling to sit up-right with a scream of terror. The creature is cackling in the distance; it echoes in his ears, the hot breath of the thing dripping down his neck. Obito screams again, grabbing his ears and crying out. Guilt, horror, fear and anger slam him immediately.

He couldn’t breathe. The hot and intense air of the swamp is swaddling his throat.

Panic and sweat drenches his skin. He’s shaking violently, and as he tries to catch his breath, he only hyperventilates and sobs. Tears run down his face, joining the sweat. It becomes very evident very quickly to Shiro and Guruguru that he totally lost himself in his nightmare.

Tobi is still wrapped around Obito. He keeps the young boy still as Shiro holds one hand and places his other on Obito’s scarred cheek. The touch alone begins to ground him, and the gentle, fuzzy feeling of Shiro Zetsu’s natural chakra brushing up against his skin gives him this…calm, serene feeling. He takes a deep breath, and lets out a sob. Obito squeezes Shiro’s hand, hugs himself, and becomes acutely aware that he’s in his Kamui dimension. He’s not in the swamp anymore; Tobi is still wrapped around him, and Shiro Zetsu is watching.

“Nightmares, yes?” Shiro Zetsu concludes. Obito says nothing. “You were screaming, having a panic attack. Wanna tell me about it?”

Obito’s face becomes pale. He shakes his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. The image of that fleshy, mangled creature flashes in the back of his head, and he opens his eyes when its ghastly voice boils in his ears again. He says nothing.

It’s awkward, and quiet. Tobi detaches his body from Obito to break it. “It’s time to get going~!” he announces. When the Uchiha slumps with a sigh, Tobi starts pulling him up by the armpits. “Come on, Uchiha-chan! The sooner we start the sooner we can be saved!”

Uchiha Obito laughs bitterly, standing on his own, and feels the dried tears and sweat crack on his cheeks. He faces the two. “I hope you’re ready,” he says. “I know I’m not.”

Zetsu steps to his side and pats his shoulder. “Of course. I’m ready whenever you are. But I do have a question for you!”

“Hn?”

“Will you kill Namikaze-chan?” he asks, his voice dropping any light tones it might’ve held moments ago. “He played a hand in Rin’s death, didn’t he? She died because of his decision as the Yondaime, after all…”

Obito pauses. He didn’t want to, they knew that; but they also knew that, if the worst case scenario does happen, then he might have to. Unless, of course…he dies. He wouldn’t mind that.

He finds hate within himself as he clamps his jaw shut. He refuses to tell them. Shiro doesn’t need to know, Kuro could be anywhere, and Tobi’s knowledge of it is pretty irrelevant. The abilities the Zetsu’s have with the flow of natural chakra is unnerving; it makes Obito incredibly paranoid. No matter what he did to try and reassure himself, there’s the deep feeling in the back of his head that someone is nearby, watching. Maybe not paying attention, but…they are there to watch.

In the end, Obito could only hope that his failure is going to be convincing. Perhaps stating it blatantly wouldn’t suffice—maybe slipping up would be more persuasive. Kuro Zetsu watches, and he doesn’t stop watching. He could only try and make his act as convincing as possible.

He settles for a soft smirk. “You’ll see,” he finally says.

Shiro gives him a very pointed look, and Tobi is faceless as usual. Obito doesn’t care for their reactions, though. He just activates his Mangekyō, and teleports to the outside world.

* * *

Kakashi shivers.

The hairs on his arms and neck rise with goosebumps. An uneasy feeling settles down on him, gently showering over his shoulders and dripping down to the tips of his toes. He suddenly feels cold. But the Hokage Tower is warm—it’s had its heat up for quite a bit now, since October brings infamously cold weather in Hi no Kuni. From where he sits, he draws his gaze out the window. It’s the tenth. The tenth of October—the day Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto would be born, and the Namikaze-Uzumaki family would be a bit more complete.

The day grew cold with the time that has passed. The clouds gained weight, and decided to spill it out in starved snowfall. Kakashi notes that this means an early, and potentially long, winter. Hm. He needs to insulate his apartment…

The thought crosses his mind and he smiles bitterly. How much more symbolic can this day get with the birth of the Hokage’s son on his mind?

But regardless of weather and temperature, the uneasiness stays. It thickens in his throat like stray bile and phlegm trying to escape, and he swallows. It gets worse and worse with each passing second, and in a burst of energy, Kakashi jumps to his feet with a hard stare scoring the barren outdoors. What the hell is out there?

Noise. He turns his head towards the living, hearing Minato, Jiraiya and Kushina having small talk. While they did sound carefree, Kakashi could feel the uptight tension between the trio. His best guess is that they, too, feel the unbearable unease. He frowns, and begins to leave.

“Kakashi,” Kushina calls as he tries to leave out the front door. “Where are you going?”

“For a walk! I want to enjoy the snow before it’s gone,” he replies smoothly.

“Ah! It’s snowing…”

The door nearly slams at his heel. The feeling refuses to leave, even as the cold slams him in the face. He stops and takes a deep breath before leaping onto the rooftops. He makes way for the Hokage Monument. Something is there—he can feel it.

By the time he arrives, he’s panting from the sprint. He stops and looks around, and searches with any sense he possibly could use. Then, he sees it: a swirl. A man, masked and shaped in a disoriented way by the spiral, slips out. Kakashi realizes it’s a dimension jutsu, and when the man is revealed, his eyes widen. He suddenly forgot he had been out of breath.

“I thought you left for good!” he exclaims over the biting cold and the distance. He makes way to the strange Uchiha, stopping only a few feet away. “Hello, Uchiha-san.”

The man flinches, taking a defensive step back. With every movement, the chains become more and more remembered. He narrows his eye, and stops moving. “I never really left,” he points out. “I’ve been here this whole time.”

Kakashi nods, his single eye drifting to the cuffs and chains. “Yondaime-sama knows about you and your…seals. He wants to help.”

Obito raises his hands, and rubs the cuffs with his thumbs. “He won’t if he knew the consequences of helping me.”

“He and Jiraiya-sama made them,” Kakashi states pointedly.

“So they know.” Obito lowers his arms and tips his chin back in pessimism. “And do they happen to know how to break it without causing extra damage?”

The Konoha ANBU blinks, and would’ve shrugged if the conversation had been a more casual subject. “I’m not sure, but—“

He gets cut off very abruptly, though, when Minato’s chakra suddenly flares. Obito becomes defensive again, hiding his flinch in a change of stance. The visibility the chains gain make him feel nervous and uneasy, but he keeps himself held in a fortitude.

Minato appears next to Kakashi, taking his student by surprise. “Kakashi, your walk was badly timed. It’s about to begin. Are you…nervous, or something?”

Kakashi remains speechless and almost wide-eyed, saying nothing and only motioning towards Obito as subtle as he could.

“Oh? And who is this?”

Kakashi straightens himself up and regains composure. “Um…this is the person I told you about, sensei. Remember?”

Minato stares thoughtfully, his expression odd. It molds itself between sympathy and pity, before it clicks in his mind. The chains were the dead give away. “Ah, I see…so you were the one who Kakashi ran into yesterday.” He smiles warmly. “You don’t need to worry, Uchiha-kun. You can be at ease here. None of us mean any harm.”

Obito hesitates, and doesn’t move. Kuro Zetsu is watching. He’s always watching. If Obito doesn’t back off now, there’s the threat of pain and mental destruction looming over his head. But…just seeing Kakashi…

Slowly but surely, Obito relaxes out of his stance. He remains sharp and guarded, though, and refuses to forget that looming presence.

Minato’s smile widens. “Good to see that you trust us enough to do that,” he says. A serious expression blankets his face, though, as he gestures to the chains. “May I? I want to take a look and help.”

Obito shakes his head. “No,” he mutters. “Just…no. No.”

The Yondaime frowns. “Why not? Are you afraid?”

Obito doesn’t answer immediately. He pauses, and stares, and his eyes narrow thoughtfully. Eventually, he decides. “Because,” he starts, “you’re too busy. I will…you’ll…you’ll get to it. Eventually, eventually. Just…not—not right now…”

Minato keeps his cool. “How do you know I’m busy? Have you been spying?”

“I know a lot of things,” he points out. “Like…for example…why today is so nerve-wracking, yet so incredibly special.”

“Ah! Today’s the day, isn’t it?” Minato proclaims. He still keeps his cool. “Ehm…might I ask what you mean by that? Today’s been normal.”

Obito feels a smile growing on his face. He spreads his arms, keeping them low enough so that the chains don’t stretch but also obvious enough that it doesn’t come across as a lazy shrug. “I heard the Kyūbi Jinchūriki has a weakness,” he says, “and that it happens to be that her weakness is doomed for the tenth of October! The process of birthing leaves her absolutely vulnerable. You chose a dangerous wife, Yondaime-sama. Could you have expected anything else from Uchiha-kun?”

Something in Minato snaps. It becomes painfully obvious as he narrows his eyes in a glare. “So you know. How the hell do you know?”

Obito can feel his eye crease as he grins. It’s invisible to the rest of the world, but it’s all he does. He just remains where he stands, in the snowy breeze, keeping his posture high and mighty. He doesn’t give a verbal response.

“What are your intentions?” Kakashi growls out. The deceiving trust in his body language disappears almost immediately.

Obito opens his mouth, ready to say, but he remembers who is watching. If he replies truthfully, Kuro Zetsu would light him on fire. It’s better to be ambiguous at this point. “Kushina has a bright red target on her back,” he points out cryptically. “Some would say my malice is protection.”

“What do you mean?” Minato snaps. “I will not hesitate to kill you if you come after my wife and child, Uchiha-kun.”

Obito lowers his hands, his shoulders losing their firm structure, and his head tilting forward enough to cast a shadow. “You will appreciate my work in the long run, Yondaime-sama.”

Minato swears on the Memorial Stone that, if this god-forsaken rogue didn’t have that mysterious teleportation jutsu, he would’ve attacked.

But he’s gone in the blink of an eye, and Minato realizes he’s shaking.

* * *

Obito re-enters his dimension to meet Kuro Zetsu. Standing and facing it, Obito grimaces at the sound of its raspy voice.

“ **You will be successful, whether you like it or not. If you fail, punishment will be undeniably painful. Do I make myself clear** ?”

Obito nods, his Kamui twirling. “Yes.”

“ ** Wonderful ** ,” Kuro Zetsu rumbles.  ** Now, go. And hurry ** .”

It’s time.

Wordlessly, Obito leaves his dimension and lands softly in a crouching position. He’s behind Ki, a rooftop ANBU guard. Quickly and quietly, Obito wraps his arms purposefully around Ki’s neck, and chokes him out until there’s no pulse. The other two guards, unnamed but likely highly-skilled, are swiftly handled in the same manner. Each get softly placed, with no pulse to speak of for the time being. They’re not breathing, and won’t be for a good while.

A nifty little deception tactic Tobi taught him.

Obito stands, activating his Kamui once again. He lands inside of the walls of Naruto’s birthplace, phasing through them perfectly enough to be unnoticeable but peeks out just enough to witness what he needed to.

Minato has his hands looming over the visibly weak seal. It’s glowing brightly, the Kyūbi’s red chakra leaking and threatening to spill under the Yondaime. There is yelling, and crying, and the scent of birth wafts in the air. The metallic taste of blood settles in the crevices of Obito’s mouth, and he scrunches his nose bitterly. The yelling—Kushina’s yelling—is drowned out by shrill cries. Newborn screams take over her efforts, and Biwako’s face brightens up as she grabs the infant.

“My, he’s got quite the lungs!” she says. She grabs a kunai from her pouch, her hand supporting the weak and heavy head of baby Naruto. She raises the kunai, and gently cuts the umbilical cord.

That’s Obito’s cue.

The shrill shrieking fills his ears as he completely enters the room. His gunbai is in hand, poised to attack, and the moment he gets close enough he swipes it. A blast of strong and surprising wind tosses everyone who hadn’t been prepared to the other side of the room.

Of course, Kakashi only stumbles. Before Obito can reach Biwako and Naruto, the ANBU is in front of his enemy with his tantō unsheathed. He blocks the kunai Obito throws, and meets blade-to-blade with the gunbai. When it becomes clear that they’re not gonna win that fight, they each step back defensively.

The midwives, one being an older, pink-haired woman and the other being a younger brunette, step in front of Biwako. She still holds the newborn, and she still has her kunai in hand. Obito’s current objective is to get to Kushina and Minato, to get the Kyūbi out. He had full intention of making it seem like he would kill Naruto if they didn’t obey. Nothing more and nothing less than something fake—a ruse, a juke, a deception.

Everyone quickly regains their ground after Kakashi and Obito break away. Minato hovers over Kushina, making sure both her and the seal were stable and alright, and everyone else remains on the defense.

Jiraiya steps forward, winded and disheveled, but guarded. He glares, the creases in his brow making the youth in his face disappear. “So you’re the kid Minato told us about,” Jiraiya states. “What are you after, you bastard? Is it Naruto? Kushina? The Kyūbi?”

Obito just shrugs his shoulders. “I’m just following orders,” he says, the lie slipping through his teeth like water going downstream. He chuckles, making his opponents nervous as they search for chances and openings to attack. But then a vortex appears in front of him—and it becomes abundantly clear that he is summoning back-up.

Kakashi doesn’t hesitate in his reaction. He throws a fan of shuriken at the dimensional vortex, aiming for the entering figures. They hit, yes, but they don’t…draw blood. White and black figures appear, their eyes uneasily yellow, and their human-like shape unnatural. The shuriken are stuck in their bodies—and the Uchiha is entirely unharmed.

“Who the hell are you guys?” Kakashi bites.

The Zetsu don’t answer verbally, they just sink into the ground and disappear with the natural chakra surrounding them. Obito dashes forward, swiping the gunbai to stun the two Konoha shinobi. They’re only prepared enough to brace for the stun, and in the tight window of their recovery, Obito jabs a kunai point blank. Kakashi dodges, his ANBU tattoo gaining a shallow slash as he avoids the deadly strike.

Obito covers his backside with the gunbai as he turns his back towards Jiraiya and puts his full attention onto Inu. The Sannin, disgruntled by the blatant arrogance, charges and tries to flank him. But as the fight continues, and as Jiraiya continuously fails to flank, he realizes just how much control the lithe bastard has over this battle.

Quite frankly, it’s terrifying.

Kakashi and Obito keep coming to blows, and Jiraiya only becomes a hindrance—so he backs off. This, he decides, is not his fight.

Naruto and Kushina should be his priority at this point. Biwako and Minato are capable in their own rights, but there is a weak jinchūriki and a newborn to be taken care of and protected. Jiraiya turns around to his comrades, rushing over to Minato and Kushina. As far as he can see, Minato is a borderline mess and Kushina is deathly exhausted. Biwako and her midwife companions were on the defense, and were in no immediate danger as far as Jiraiya is concerned.

“Sensei,” Minato says. “Could you…?”

“Of course,” he replies. His student didn’t even need to ask. “Go and get Naruto. Help Biwako-san. I’ll bring Kushina to safety.”

Minato nods, planting a kiss on the crown of his panting wife before swiftly entering into the battle between Inu and Uchiha-kun. Jiraiya grabs Kushina by the elbows, and uses his own Hiraishin to exit the chaos.

The moment Minato realizes that the masked man wouldn’t let him interfere, just as Jiraiya did, he gives up. Naruto is his priority at this point—in the very least, he needs to get the newborn and midwives out of the crossfire. He turns to the women, running up to them; he opens his mouth to say that he will take Naruto, but he gets interrupted by a deliberately placed jab to the back of his right knee that drops him to a kneel. No one is behind him, though, and it makes Minato raise his eyebrows in confusion and alarm.

But then it becomes clear what had happened when Biwako cries out and falls to her knee as well. A white hand is sticking out, a kunai poised perfectly to cut Biwako’s food tendon. She keeps Naruto cradled to her chest, straightening her back and core to keep a consistent defense system. The other two midwives, each not prepared in time, collapse with bleeding heels, and—to Minato’s horror—watches helplessly as a third, unknown creature emerges from the ground and snatches the newborn baby from Biwako’s arms.

Naruto lets out a cry of alarm. The sound leaves Minato deaf and enraged and blindly scared. He doesn’t hesitate to leap towards the third unknown creature, though his leg is bleeding, and stabs a kunai into the base of its back. The creature yells in surprise, and swipes a spike that grows out of its arm towards Minato. The Hokage dodges, ducking underneath and reaching for his baby—but the thing is too nimble and reactive to simply let it happen, and it escapes.

“Uchiha-chan~!” the creature coos over Naruto’s screaming. “I have the baby~!”

Immediately, the rogue Uchiha deflects Kakashi’s tantō and swipes the gunbai. He throws the ANBU away, and regroups with the creature inhumanely quick. The gunbai hooks onto his back, and he reaches out for the swaddled newborn. The poor thing’s screaming only calms for a second before he realizes that Obito isn’t a trustworthy caretaker at the moment.

Tobi giggles, deep and dark tones in his voice as he slinks back behind the rogue. Shiro Zetsu rises from the ground, an eerie grin spreading across his face. But Kuro Zetsu is nowhere to be found, and fear strikes Obito in the depths of his belly. She needs to be here, he can’t protect her where ever she is right now—especially when Kuro Zetsu is nowhere to be found. So…he does as he fears, and pulls out a kunai. He holds it close to Naruto’s chin, and feels his Kamui spin as his emotional state riots.

Minato clamps up with fear and realization, and Kakashi freezes in his spot. Biwako is staring with wide, guilty eyes, and suddenly…suddenly, Obito feels powerful. For once, he can choose what to do; he isn’t a pawn here.

“What do you want?” Minato asks, his voice strong but…shaky. “Don’t hurt my son. Let’s negotiate, please—“

“Yondaime-sama.” Obito cuts him off. He projects his voice, and makes sure that he’s heard. “On a bad day, what do you remember?”

Minato frowns. “I’m sorry…what—what do you mean?”

“You’re the Yellow Flash. You spent half a lifetime in war,” Obito points out. He can’t help himself—he wants to poke and pry first. “So, on a bad day, what do you remember?”

He hesitates, and almost takes too long to answer. When the tip of the kunai presses against the blanket, Minato winces and begins to answer immediately. “I—I think of all the people I failed. Specifically my late team mates, and my late students…and…Kakashi, of course. I don’t regret my actions. I just feel I could’ve done better—should’ve done better,” he states. His tone starts to become desperate. “I wish I didn’t need to do so much killing. As a Kage, I have the opportunity to bring prosperity. I’m a shinobi before I am a Hokage, though. These feelings and failures are a part of the job…”

Obito can only stare. But he feels like whatever Minato has said so far is the best he can currently get, considering the circumstances. So the kunai lifts, Naruto’s screaming becomes a little less shrill, and Minato tenses up. “Bring your wife here,” he demands.

“Not a chance in hell,” Kakashi grounds out.

Minato’s eyes widen. “You want the Kyūbi, don’t you?”

“ _No_!” Obito shouts, his voice raising out of fear and frustration. “Bring her here  _ immediately.”_

The man stops for a second, thoughtful, before he ends up teleporting away. It leaves the incapable midwives and the uneasy Hatake behind with Obito and his party.

“What the hell do you want with Kushina, you bastard?”

Obito can clearly see the sneer behind the mask. “I’m helping—“

“Who?!” His voice seethes with anger as he shouts and fumes, but he doesn’t attack. “Who the fuck are you helping?!”

“Now, now…” Obito rumbles. “At some point in your life, you won’t be able to help with words—only actions. You’ll understand.”

Kakashi has nothing to say to that, and Obito cackles. He keeps his gaze on the shinobi, and uses Kamui to teleport him away. Unfortunately, Minato returns with Jiraiya and Kushina just in time to witness the vortex steal Kakashi away. Their alarm is clear.

“What did you do?” Minato demands.

Obito turns his eye to his former sensei. “Whatever else could you expect of an Uchiha, Yondaime-sama?” he questions. He laughs. “One with a Mangekyō, none the less.”

“I’m here,” Kushina acutely interrupts. “What do you want?”

“Kuro,” Obito calls. “Come along, now, it’s time you rejoin the party.”

As Obito thought would happen, Kuro Zetsu emerges from the ground. “ Hm ,” it grumbles. “ Do not call to me as if I’m a dog .”

Obito says nothing to that. He merely glances at the creature, and lets Kamui swallow it. He feels a pinching muscle relax, and the kunai falls to the ground. “Hn. Bastard…”

“Uchiha,” Kushina snaps. Her voice strains. “Tell me what you want with me!”

Obito turns his gaze towards her, but she avoids eye contact. He stares, and stares, and stares, and stares. He can’t decide—he couldn’t make the decision he wants to, and he couldn’t make the decision Kuro wants him to. So…he compromises with himself, and chuckles. “Go home, Kushina-hime,” he states, deliberate with his suffixes. “Find safety, and rest up.”

Confusion flashes across her face, but it becomes alarm when Kamui sucks up Minato and Jiraiya as well. She is left alone, weak, facing a powerful man, and her son…

“I mean it,” Obito says. He gestures for Shiro and Tobi to grab his shoulders. “This is the first battle of many. Do not let your guard down.”

“…What?”

But he doesn’t answer. He only disappears in the vortex of Kamui, stealing Naruto away with ease and pain.

He’s going to regret this. He can feel it.

* * *

Obito lands easy. Tobi and Shiro Zetsu follow.

Kakashi, Jiraiya and Minato look and move about in confusion, their eyes wandering the dimension. Obito takes the chance that they don’t notice his arrival to hand Naruto over to Tobi, and with a flick of his hand, they disappear. The movement alerts the other three shinobi in the vicinity, immediately creating tension.

Minato pulls out his Hiraishin kunai, Kakashi unsheathes his tantō, and Jiraiya enters a taijutsu fighting stance. Obito pulls his gunbai out, letting the rotund top of the war fan rest on the ground. He keeps his tone smug. “Welcome,” he says. “This is my dimension. I sure do hope you enjoy your stay.”

Minato glares. “What is the meaning of this?” he snaps. “I did what you demanded, and my son is still unsafe! You coward!”

Obito raises his free hand and beckons to his surroundings. “This is the safest space you could ever put a child in,” he states. He makes sure to seem serious—but he doesn’t give away his reason. “I’m only following orders, Yondaime-sama. My will is my own, but my hands are not. I’m sure you can understand my meaning there.”

“Just tell me where my baby is.” Minato is nearly begging.

“Naruto will be no more of a factor in this battle. He isn’t of much use anymore,” Obito explains. He raises his gunbai. “Unless, of course…I need an escape route.”

Something must’ve snapped in Minato. He, quite irrationally, charges forward and aims to kill with his kunai. Obito can easily read his movements with the Sharingan, though, and either dodges it or blocks it with his kunai. Swipe up, step back; Minato leaps up, descending like a drill, he just steps left, blocks the shuriken with his gunbai, and swipes it. The chakra-fused wind throws Minato away in a tumble, and the movement puts Obito’s back to Kakashi and Jiraiya. Aware but careless, Obito palms a kunai of his own and charges forward. He focuses his chakra into his gunbai-wielding arm, throwing it forward with minimal force, and letting it pass by Minato as if it never meant to hit him. Which, of course, it doesn’t. Minato doesn’t see it in time, though, and Obito yanks the gunbai back. Minor chakra manipulation allows it to turn over to its flat side, and it slams Minato’s back.

The momentum carries, shoving the Kage forward right into Obito’s kunai. It is perfectly poised for a stab to the stomach. Minato feels like an idiot just then; this masked man is cunning, relentless, and a total cryptic. This strange and unexpected move…it came naturally to his opponent. How much did he have to endure to perfect that advance of a movement?

But despite the execution, the uniqueness of the move, and all the minor details that could craft it, Minato still has Hiraishin. He teleports as soon as the near-death experience registers, and he lands, awkwardly, on his side next to Kakashi.

“Minato-sensei!”

There’s a glint. “Move!”

Kakashi’s reaction time is as amazing as ever, of course. He ducks and rolls away from a speeding kunai, and takes no time in putting together the correct hand seals for a Katon no Jutsu.

“ _ Katon: Endan _ !”

A stream of fire exits Kakashi’s mouth, aiming straight for the masked man. He dodges it, leaping as high as he needs to avoid it. More shuriken get thrown, and his gunbai blocks it, but he loses site of his opponents. It leaves an opening for Kakashi to move freely, and for Jiraiya to begin his own ninjutsu.

“ _ Katon: Haikekisho! _ ”

Ash surrounds Obito very fast. He coughs—he can’t see. But he can feel the chakra, and see the build up. It’s going to create a cloud of fire, and he’s right in the middle of it. It’s in this moment that Obito wishes he kept the fight in the outside world. His Mangekyō would’ve been so much more useful…

He still has his gunbai, though. Before the fire is ignited, he swipes it. The air clears around him and the scattered trio are exposed. Obito swipes the gunbai again, aiming behind him and using the momentum to throw himself as far as it could get him. Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu grows a sword-like spear of wood from his artificial hand. He lands in between the three, his gunbai deflecting a volley of water balls as he jams his fist into the stone floor. The spear that originates from his arm grows, and grows, and grows, and wooden tendrils shoot out from the ground. As long as Obito can see his opponents, he can chase after them with Mokuton.

Jiraiya is taking leaps and bounds to avoid the wood, and when he reaches a certain distance, he throws bomb tags that attach themselves to the base of the reaching root-like tendrils. The explosion shakes the ground violently, and Obito almost loses his footing. Eventually, as he persists his chase, Kakashi and Minato become nimble enough to completely avoid Obito’s efforts. Jiraiya smartly takes the opening it creates, and dives in with an unforgiving kick to his neck.

Obito chokes and loses his breath, falling as far as his stuck arm allows him to. A sharp pain zaps his shoulder, and he finds that he’d been mercilessly stabbed by Kakashi’s tantō as he lays on the floor. But despite the fact that he’s down and injured, he can still use his ninjutsu.

Minato sees it from afar. “Watch out!” he screams.

Kakashi and Jiraiya don’t have the time to react, though. Sashiki no Jutsu is used again as Mokuton spears grow out of Obito’s body. One stabs Jiraiya directly in the stomach, and the other pins Kakashi down by the shoulder. It’s obvious that it goes through flesh and bone, and it’s not because of the scream of pain.

Obito detaches it all from his body, shedding it as if he were a snake; he grabs his gunbai and stands before the Yondaime once again.

“You are one hell of a bastard, aren’t you?” Minato comments begrudgingly. He raises his Hiraishin kunai again. “You get what you want and you still continue to fight. Why? Why do you do this?”

“Because I have to,” Obito says truthfully.

Once again, they both charge forward at one another with each weapon ready to block and meet one another’s attack. A few exchanging blows doesn’t make any difference, and after a small handful, Minato steps away as far as he could to assess his situation.

“Regardless of what you ask, it’s all in front of you,” Obito points out. “I give you my honest answers, Yondaime-sama! You just need to believe me.”

If this hadn’t been a battle to the death, Minato surely would’ve rolled his eyes at the dramatic words of the masked man. Instead, he focuses chakra in his calves, and lunges forward with as much speed as he needs for his plan. His Hiraishin kunai is out again, and Obito’s gunbai is positioned to meet it for the umpteenth time. Minato throws it tothe ground in front of Obito’s toes, though, and dives in with a Rasengan.

The ball of pure chakra slams into the gunbai, and as much Minato pushes with it, the masked man pushes back. After a few seconds, Obito manages to toss Minato away with the forceful push of the weapon. It’s doubled with the chakra it had absorbed from the Rasengan. As Minato flies away, and as Obito’s arms open in the midst of his counter-attack, it clicks. Hiraishin is going to be used for a reason in this moment.

Minato teleports right in front of Obito once again. Another Rasengan is formed in his hand. Instead of the gunbai being in front of Obito, though, it’s out by his side in his outstretched hand and completely useless. The Rasengan hits the masked man, right in his face—it hits its target immediately.

Obito had never taken a ball of chakra to the face before. He’s been hit with a lot, of course, but this is Namikaze Minato. He should’ve expected a move as smart as this, and he especially should’ve seen it get step up as soon as the kunai hit the ground in front of him.

He feels the mask breaking. The heat and burning pain of the chakra starts to seep into his scarred face—but he submits to this defeat.

Minato pushes his hand further into his face, and it shoves Obito far. Like clay shattering, his mask breaks, and he shouts in pain as he lands on his injured shoulder. His entire upper body aches and quivers, tired and hurt from using Mokuton and taking a Rasengan to the face. He pushes himself up to a kneeling position, swaying and nearly falling because of the disorientation. He grabs the chain of his cuff and pulls the gunbai close once again, his other free hand touching his mask. A good quarter of it is gone, now, showing most of his forehead and the entirety of his face that had been previously hidden by his mask is exposed. This includes most of his cheekbone, his temple, his ear and eyebrow and a part of the bridge of his nose. His scars are prominent all of a sudden, and he feels a jolt of anxiety as his fingers brush up against them. This isn’t very good.

Minato stares, observant of the partial amount he could see. “You’re not Madara, are you?” he murmurs, almost entirely in shock as his thoughts become a train. “You…you can’t be Madara.”

Obito’s eye narrows slightly as he lets a small smile escape. “Uchiha Madara is dead,” he proclaims. “I walk in his steps, though.”

Kuro Zetsu is watching. He can feel the blaze scorch the back of his head. He has to keep fighting.

He regains his composure and stands. He has to lean on his gunbai for a few moments, and leans forward in a ready, non-taijutsu stance. He can literally see the gears in Minato’s head grinding as he thinks. He isn’t moving—he’s obviously putting himself in a state of shock.

Obito is staring. His Sharingan spins, and in the moment that Minato stares, he casts a genjutsu. The Hokage won’t be moving for a good few minutes. When it’s certain that Minato is under, he turns towards Kakashi and Jiraiya. The Hatake is senseless in his pain, and Jiraiya is down to his knee with Shōsen Jutsu over his stomach. He starts to walk over to them—his gaze scorches them, marks them like prey. Jiraiya stumbles back to his feet, but Obito shuts him down with a genjutsu, too.

Kakashi grabs his ankle the moment Obito steps next to him, though. He stops and looks down at the incapacitated ANBU. His normal eye is closed, and his own Mangekyō is pointed to kill. Obito smiles knowingly. “Try as you might,” he says. “It won’t work here—not the way you would want it to.”

It doesn’t stop him from trying. But, instead of decapitating Obito, Kakashi is sucked into the vortex and returned to the outside world. A piece of the wooden spear shatters and follows, though, and all that’s left of where Kakashi had been is a rather large pool of blood. Perhaps Obito had been too ruthless.

But… _ruthless_ is nailed into his head at this point. Between the slaughter of the Kiri-nin and the battle tactics and moves Madara taught him…

Obito stops thinking. He stops, turns, studies, and stares. This dimension has become almost a safe haven as much as it is a battle field. The wooden tendrils aren’t going anywhere, though, that’s for certain. Not to mention…

The silence.

It’s unnervingly quiet. He feels unguarded and afraid when that crosses his mind. Where is Kuro Zetsu?

He cries out in pain when he’s made aware that Kuro Zetsu is still in control. His head spins and his chakra gets drained very quickly by the cuffs. He clutches his head and falls to his knees, squeezing his eyes shut as horrors flash and begin to etch themselves into his brain. The genjutsu Minato and Jiraiya had been previously under breaks, and they’re quick to snap out of the trance.

“ _O-bi-to_ …”

He leans forward and screams into the ground, pure terror ripping his soul apart as it becomes eerily apparent that his nightmare is beginning to manifest.

“ Obito !”

He cries out again, pressing his forehead to the ground and covering his ears. A strong hand grabs the back of his neck. He chokes on air, but soon enough the breathing becomes metallic and pain blossoms from his chest.

When he looks down—down towards his chest, where his breath and heart remain in sanctuary—he finds Kuro Zetsu has a fist going through his body, and a handful of cloth, blood and flesh. His knees shake, and his vision swims. The mangled creature still calls his name in the distance, sorrow and anger filling its voice, and pain stabbing every inch of his body.

Kuro Zetsu pulls its arm out, tossing Obito to the ground without any sense of care. It flicks its hand free of the blood and cloth. “ ** Hm. That’ll teach you ** ,” it growls. “ **Never defy me again, Obito**. ”

It just sinks into the ground. It never even bothers to deactivate the seals.

All Obito can do is bleed and twitch.

This is how he dies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback appreciated as always!!


	3. Inure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another update!! :D
> 
> yayy!!
> 
> lots of angst still, just as i like it. yummy. regardless, enjoy!!
> 
> wc: 6.8k

**Inure**

— _to accept or grow accustomed to undesirable things._

* * *

The moment Minato is broken from the genjutsu is the moment that he decides that fighting an Uchiha is horrible, and that he’ll never be looking forward to doing it ever again. Time feels unreal when he exits, but there is screaming. Horrible screaming. It’s full of terror, and it breaks the voice from how long and hard the scream is.

Minato winces when he finally registers the shrill and sorrowful sound. It pierces his ears. The man is no longer in front of him—it makes him wonder how long he’s been under—and when he turns to locate the origin of the screaming, he grimaces. The masked man is on his knees, keeled over, with his forehead resting on the ground and his hands clasping his ears. The sight is pitiful, heart-wrenching, and leaves Minato’s throat feeling twisted with guilt.

The seals are active.

And it’s his fault that they’re out in the world.

A black creature, the yellow-eyed thing from before, emerges from the ground. It steps up to the masked man, grabbing his neck with a single hand and forcing him to stand with that grip alone. Minato winces at the choking sounds that escape the Uchiha’s throat, and starts to move. He can’t say why he’s heading towards them—but he knows he feels guilty for the inflicted pain. But then…the choking becomes wet and red.

Minato stops dead in his tracks. He blanches, and almost lets the contents of his stomach out. The creature’s clenched fist is through the lower right part of the Uchiha’s chest, flesh and blood and cloth sticking and dripping off its knuckles. The sight is horrendous, and looks absolutely painful. When the Uchiha looks, and understands why he feels so much pain, he chokes out a gasp. The black creature takes it upon itself to push the masked man off of his arm and onto the floor, giving no room for mercy or second thought to the amount of pain it might’ve caused.

“ **Hm. That’ll teach you** ,” it rumbles. “ **Never defy me again, Obito**.”

“…Obito…” Minato whispers. The creature sinks back into the ground. He takes the chance to run up to the masked man. “Obito!”

There’s a lot of blood already. It really begins to bloom when Minato turns the masked man over onto his back. His Sharingan is deactivated, and there’s a pale clamminess that coats his face. Jiraiya steps up to his other side, and he grimaces.

“He looks like a deadman,” Jiraiya murmurs.

Minato’s hands are shaking a little bit. He begins to realize that he wants to unmask this Uchiha, to confirm whether or not it’s Obito, and…and to just see. So he reaches out, and grabs the cracked and destroyed mask. He has to pull it up and over the top of the Uchiha’s head—the strap is thick, and covers most of his head, but it’s removable. He doesn’t need to take it off completely to see, anyways.

It is Obito.

One entire side of his face is scarred, the skin previously ruined and blemished by the boulder. The huge damn rock that had killed the very first of his fireteam…and the victim is laying on the floor in front of Minato, having entirely survived, yet still dying.

“He’s…” Jiraiya’s voice trails away. He looks at Minato. “He’s the student that died in the rockfall.”

Minato’s eyes tear up as he turns to his sensei. “It’s Obito,” he murmurs. A gentle sniff escapes him. He leans forward to look into the tormented eye of the Uchiha. “Obito-kun. Can you hear me? It’s Minato…”

The Uchiha’s pupil dilates as he hears the voice of the Yondaime, but he doesn’t actually see. “Minato…” he murmurs. “‘m sorry…”

Minato doesn’t say anything to that. He’s still in a bit of shock. He looks up to Jiraiya. “C-can you help him?”

The Sannin stands, speechless and unable to answer. “I-I don’t think so…I can’t. We do need to stabilize him, though…if we were to get him the help his needs.”

Obito turns his face to Jiraiya. “Tsunade,” he rasps.

“I don’t know where she is…or if she’ll even help.”

Regardless, Obito activates his Mangekyō Sharingan. “Tsunade is in Kin no Sato,” he says, and the vortex sends Jiraiya away.

Minato doesn’t hesitate to press the palm of his hand to Obito’s forehead, and he can’t help but just…stare. Tears slip from his eyes. “You’re alive,” he says again. Just looking at what Obito has been through with the seals alone…

He feels immense guilt. This is his fault. Minato did this. He couldn’t save Obito from the rock fall, and he sure as hell can’t do a whole lot about the current state of the fūinjutsu in all of their activity. The pain they’re causing is something he’ll need to wait out. Minato knows for certain that, if he destroys active seals, he’ll experience the pain himself for a few moments, and double the pain Obito feels.

The Uchiha reaches, his shaking hand reaching for the air where he had thought Minato’s arm is. The Yondaime grabs his hand, gentle and deliberate because the grip makes him flinch. “Minato,” he mumbles.

He swallows his tears, and strengths his voice. “Yes, Obito?”

“Naruto will die,” he tries. “He’ll die…”

A slight of panic hits Minato as Obito coughs. “Don’t push yourself, please. What do you mean by die?”

“Kuro Zetsu…” he chokes out. “He needs the bijū. All of them…’nd Kushina’s too powerful to live…”

“So this Kuro Zetsu wants to use Naruto to…to kill Kushina,” he concludes. Obito nods. “For the bijū…why? Is he trying to rule the world?”

Obito smiles bitterly. “Something like that,” he croaks. He’s staring up at the ceiling, his vision dim and vaguely registering. The darkness around him just isn’t helping. But it sharpens and gains exposure when his Mangekyō spins into life. “Their dream is…so, so…nice…”

“What do you mean?”

Obito simply begins to teleport. A jab of regret skims his heart. He wishes he took up the Mugen Tsukuyomi plan. But…he couldn’t find it in his heart to do so. It just seems so bad and unrealistic—like it would never happen, and their efforts would be trashed.

They’re in the forest right below the place where Kushina had been left. Obito summons the energy he has, and begins to push himself to a sitting position. Minato almost protests, but the amount of effort is too much to try and stop him already. So, he helps. He pulls Obito to the stump of a nearby oak tree, and kneels in front of him. Blood is beginning to bubble and spill from Obito’s mouth. It dribbles down his chin, jaw, and soaks into the collar of his cloak.

Minato places a hand on his knee. “Obito,” he says. “Where is my son?”

“Ah…that,” he chokes. “Important…”

“It is,” the Hokage says. “Please, he’s safest in my hands…”

Obito feels his vision blurring dramatically. The world is so blurry, they’re just…blobs of colors at moments. Other moments, it’s a blur of motion. But his line of sight continuously darkens, and the back of his eyes pinch themselves. It begins to hurt when he blinks. It’s more than likely because of the active seals. The Senju DNA coursing through his artificial flesh prolongs use of his Mangekyō.

But…will he? Will he bring Naruto out? Yes, Kuro, Tobi, and Naruto are in there; he knows the insides and outsides of his own dimension. Kuro wouldn’t be able to find the baby for a few hours. Naruto is safe for the time-being.

So, he acts. And he acts because he is convinced. Minato and Kushina are not prepared for Kuro Zetsu. Only he is.

“Obito,” Minato murmurs. Desperation slips in his voice. “Please. Give me Naruto.”

“‘m sorry…” he rasps. His voice shakes, guilt racking itself out from the depths of his heart and tearing him a horribly new feel of despair. “I—just…”

“…It’s the seals, isn’t it?” he concludes. “They’re stealing your chakra.”

Obito nods. Relief loosens the tension in his shoulders as his Mangekyō fades into the normal, three-tomoe Sharingan. “I’m sorry,” he says again, tears flooding his eyes and breaking the built up tension quickly. “‘m sorry…’m sorry…”

“Obito.” Minato keeps his voice firm. “Don’t be sorry.” He pulls his hand from Obito’s knee, leaving a Hiraishin mark in place. “I’m going to bring Jiraiya back here, with Tsunade…maybe. I will be back momentarily.”

“Minato-sensei!”

But the Yondaime is gone before then, and Kakashi emerges from the brush of the forest just in time to witness the teleportation. His eye lingers on the spot for a moment before he takes unsurprisingly quick notice of Obito’s presence. All things that make Hatake Kakashi stop as he stares in shock at the sight. “O-Obito?”

A slight of a smile pulls at his lips. “Hn.” It’s all he can muster.

“…You’re…alive. Y-you survived…and you’re the masked man…”

Obito would’ve taken a breath if there hadn’t been a hole in his lung. “Correct,” he rasps. “Although I am sitting in front you, dying…a-again.”

Kakashi’s expression becomes somber. His shoulders start to slide, and slowly drooping to meet his depressive demeanor. He doesn’t say anything for a while, almost for too long, and Obito nearly closes his eyes. But then Kakashi speaks. “This night is…”

“Is not your fault,” Obito finishes, “if that’s what you’re trying to say. Shit happens, Kakashi…you know that.”

The young ANBU’s eye is wide. It stares in shock, and surprise, and he flinches when Hiraishin gets activated. Jiraiya and Tsunade are at Minato’s sides, standing before Obito, and, almost immediately, Tsunade retches. Minato keeps a comforting hand on her shoulder, though, remaining in his spot as a supportive Hokage.

“God…” she grumbles. “I haven’t seen a wound like that in years…”

“It’s bad,” Minato agrees quietly. He clears his throat. “I—I…yeah. Please help him, Tsunade-hime.”

She drops to her knees, raising her hands over the wound. Her face is knitted tightly together, weaving a frown of anxiety and disgust. She begins to use Shōsen Jutsu, and—as the moments pass—the pinching expression on Obito’s face becomes more and more relieved. Kakashi is still frozen in his spot. His eye continuously darts between Obito, Minato and Jiraiya, and juggles his surroundings. He notices something odd, though, that just doesn’t fit in the night.

“Where’s Kushina?” Kakashi speaks up.

Minato winces when he and Jiraiya come to realize that she had been left in the dust a little bit ago. The Yondaime turns around, and points to his student. “You need to stay here with Obito. Assist Tsunade-hime until the emergency aid is done. Jiraiya and I will be right back.”

Kakashi has no time to respond. They teleport away almost immediately, and suddenly, he feels…terrified. He doesn’t know what to say to Obito, or how to even feel about seeing his dead friend sitting before him. Deep in his thoughts, he doesn’t realize that Obito opens his eye a little bit. He reaches his hand out. “Kakashi…” he manages. “…C’mere…”

Slowly, but surely, Kakashi walks over to him. He kneels next to the Uchiha, and hesitantly takes the shaking, weak hand. “Yes, Obito?”

“Lend me your chakra,” he rasps. “Please.”

“Why?”

“Naruto,” Obito mutters. “He’s in my dimension with Kuro Zetsu still. I need to get him out.”

Kakashi stops, surprise blanketing his face. He stares, looking rather dumbfounded, and blinks. “Naruto is…”

“Kakashi. Please.” The begging in his voice becomes very real, and very hard to ignore. Kakashi gives in, though, and begins to push his chakra in through Obito’s hands. It’s getting drained rather fast, and at first it’s alarming—but the Kamui flickers and spins into existence. The pinch in his brow returns as a vortex very, very slowly comes into view. A white figurine spills out of it, and within seconds, a person with a swirly mask and a bundle of blankets in his arms appear.

The stranger stays still for a moment before he dramatically slumps and sighs, remaining mindful and wary of the newborn in his arms. “Phew-y!” he cries out. “Obito-chan, you scared me~!”

Obito smiles. His Mangekyō remains active. “I apologize, Guruguru. ‘m getting better, though…”

“Ah, you’re such a silly bastard, Obito-chan!” Guruguru proclaims. “I can’t believe you! How dare you drag Tsunade-hime into this?”

This is…Tobi. It’s all Kakashi can think. Tobi. It has to be Tobi.

“Maa, maa…she came of her own will,” he rasps. He leans his head back, comfortably leaving his hand in Kakashi’s own. “How’s the baby?”

“Aww, he’s quite the adorable little thing!” he says. “If I could, I would just pinch his cheeks. They’re oh-so-pinchable! You’re so stinkin’ cute, yes you are~!”

Little Naruto just sleeps through it. Kakashi can’t say anything to the cooing. He doesn’t know if he can.

“You’ve got…what is this?” Tsunade mutters, perplexed by the white in his abdomen. “Is this artificial flesh?”

Obito only turns his gaze to her. His head is too heavy to move. “Mm,” he grunts out. “Everything on one side of my body got crushed. Some pieces were…unsalvageable, I guess you can say.”

“I see…” she says thoughtfully. “Whoever engineered it must’ve been a genius. This flesh is…amazingly realistic. It works, too.”

“Obito-chan,” Guruguru calls. “I have something to do. Here, take Naruto-chan~!”

Before Obito can even begin to protest, Guruguru presses the newborn against the uninjured half of his chest. Kakashi winces at the sudden movement, distrustful of Tobi, and quickly lets go of Obito’s hand. Obito is holding Naruto, begrudgingly, and he glares. Guruguru disappears into the ground before anything could be said, and the trio is left to their own devices.

“Tsunade-hime,” Kakashi says. “Is there anything you need right now?”

“A hospital,” she says, her brow twitching with nerves. “Shōsen Jutsu can only do so much. I’m reaching the limit of what I can do here. I need an operating room to help him furthermore.”

“Should I take him to the hospital, then?” he asks.

“It would be better to bring him in with Minato,” she states. “From what I understand, he died previously and was forced into defecting. Yes, he did die. But he’s still a rogue—so we would need someone to immediately pardon him. The hospital doesn’t treat missing-nin unless ordered to do so.”

Kakashi knows that. He’d forgotten, though, if he’s honest. Something in him questions the integrity of his memory, but he doesn’t dig into it. Or, at least, he doesn’t have the chance to. Obito is beginning to wheeze. His eye is squeezed shut, and he’s beginning to sweat and shake. Kakashi sees the signs of a mental breakdown in the tensity of his shoulders and the way his leg moves a little. He might jump up in a few moments and go berserk. Kakashi reaches out and tries to take Naruto, his heart stuck in his throat, but Obito pulls his arm away to keep the ANBU from taking Naruto. It makes Kakashi frown.

“Guru…guru!” Obito struggles to call.

Tobi—it’s all Kakashi can think of—emerges from the ground. Kakashi can barely react in time for any counter measuring attacks to the spike that races straight for his leg. He feels a scream rip from his chest as it pierces through muscle and soft meat. It pins him to the ground, and any movement makes the pain worse. He can only watch as Tsunade is wrapped and pinned, as well, and draws his tantō as Obito gets…close. Too close for comfort, considering the sudden action that swirly-faced bastard took when Obito called for him.

“What are you doing?” Kakashi chokes. His shoulder is zapping him almost as much as his leg is now, and he can already feel a certain contempt for white walls and white smells.

“Helping Naruto,” Obito whispers. He looks around as if people are staring, and leans a little closer. “Saving him, in fact…”

Kakashi grimaces at the amount of iron in his hot breath. “You’re doing this wrong,” he tries. “Konoha is safe—“

Obito shakes his head. “No.”

And then the Uchiha backs away, the swirled mask twists close, and there’s not a single trace left when he uses Shunshin to get away. Kakashi and Tsunade are left to struggle against the spikes in their bodies, and a lacking reason for all of this.

* * *

Guruguru keeps the young under his skin, mindful of the newborn and the hole in Obito’s chest. He jumps from tree to tree as slowly as he can without allowing himself to fall behind Shiro Zetsu. The white creature is unnervingly quiet, as is Guruguru—but there really is no need for conversation. They need to focus on losing their tail, and finding a hospital willing to treat an unknown.

It’s silent until Zetsu speaks up. “So. Obito.”

Guruguru opens his face enough to allow the conversation to carry on clearly.

“Hm?”

“What’s the idea behind kidnapping? And running away from the best healer in Hi no Kuni? From your former home?”

“Why so many questions,” Obito grumbles. “I did what I felt was right. Do you have a problem with it?”

“Who, me? Never! But Mina-chan and Kushi-chan might! You stole their baby. Shinobi don’t take well to child-stealers,” Shiro points out. “Kuro is in your dimension, anyways. Why should we still bother the Yondaime and Kyūbi jinchūriki’s son?”

An ominous pit opens in Obito’s already gaping stomach. Kuro Zetsu knows his way around. In his own personal dimension, created by the power of Kamui, he can sense that Kuro is…gone. This is not the most ideal situation. He can only guess where the slimy bastard has disappeared to—but now can’t be the time to focus on that. He’ll admit that he’s messing up, almost incredulously. Should he take Naruto with him into the depths of hiding, the annoying brat wouldn’t need to be a jinchūriki. Kushina would remain so for the years to come, but then she would be the target of Kuro Zetsu’s hunt. The most direct and simple solution to stop the two Uzumaki from falling victim to Madara’s no-good-plans would be to stop the hunt. Obito knows he can do it—he has it do it, in fact, because any other outcome would be a disaster he couldn’t dare to think about. He has to stop it. He absolutely has to.

He closes his eyes for the briefest of seconds. Instead of being met with painful, blotchy darkness, he sees that ghastly figure in that mangled tree swamp, dressed in red moonlight and—

“You need to make a decision,” Guruguru says. His echoing voice abruptly interrupts Obito’s reel. “What will you do?”

“Help me stand up,” he groans out. He could scream his voice into an abyssal struggle of hoarseness and muteness right about now. Pain shoots through him like electricity, pulsing and persisting. Gods, he can’t fucking breathe. But he pushes through it as best as he could. “Kuro Zetsu is gone from my dimension. He is still out there, unfortunately, and he is…most likely…waiting and stalking Kushina, ready to use Naruto against her…to win me back, even…” He coughs, bloody phlegm and saliva spilling from his mouth. He keeps a hand over his mouth to recollect himself, all the while keeping his arm curled under a stolen bundle. He makes certain that there’s nothing but safety surrounding the infant. “They’ll want Naruto back, but with Kuro Zetsu so close…their death will be inevitable. I can’t let that happen again.”

“Again?” Shiro Zetsu echoes.

“I have to keep them alive,” he rasps, ignoring Shiro and never once realizing his own wording. “I have to. I owe it to them.”

“So greedy and stupid,” Shiro snaps. “You can’t expect them to be okay with this. You’re being a complete idiot if you think that kidnapping Naruto to protect everyone from Kuro Zetsu is the best idea. We have targets on our backs.” His face stretches into some inhumane grin. “Just admit it, you want him for yourself, don’t you? Yer gonna groom him to make you feel better ‘boutcha self…”

“No!” Obito shouts. The newborn shifts in alarm at the loudness. “Shut your mouth. I know what I’m doing!”

“Denial is dangerous…” Guruguru comments telepathically.

“Just shut up, I’m not doing this for myself,” Obito grounds out. The bluntness of his irritation makes Naruto uneasy. He begins to whimper in protests, feeling discomforted and insecure. Obito could only adjust the way he’s being held. The sounds of a distressed newborn fade away within a few seconds, and there is blissful silence. It’s just his wet, pained breathing.

Shiro raises an eyebrow. “If you say so, then let’s do it,” he says. “I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful daddy. But where will we live? A child needs stability to grow and be nourished. And I don’t mean physically.”

Obito says nothing to that last part of Shiro’s pointed statement. “I haven’t though of anything just yet,” he murmurs. He feels his chest strain for air as he continues speaking. “We gotta stay concerned with the current moment. It’s a bit problematic…with Minato on our tail…I need a hospital…we—we need a…hospital…”

“Reasonable,” Shiro says shortly. “Let’s go. They’ll be here at any given moment.”

Guruguru secures his shell around Obito, watching Shiro Zetsu sink effortlessly back into the forest ground. Guruguru slips Obito’s cloak hood over his head to better hide his identity. He secures the uchiwa gunbai onto his back. In an effort to assist with the escape, Obito activates Kamui. He tries to activate his dimension teleportation, but he can feel the strain of his wounds and chakra exhaustion. He lets out a pained yelp, and quickly deactivates his Mangekyō.

“I can trust you with this, right, Guruguru?” he mumbles.

“Yes. Worry about the newborn for now.”

A small, barely noticeable smile creeps its way to Obito’s lips as he feels a bit of confidence bloom in his chest. He keeps protective and reasonably tight arms over Naruto, bracing for sudden movements as he catches a feel for Tsunade’s charged up chakra signature. She’s getting closer and closer by the millisecond. Guruguru doesn’t move until the very last moment, expertly dodging off to the side. He grows wood from his back to support his weight as he flips his legs up in the air. His foot is aimed for the top of Tsunade’s head, and it’s moving extremely fast, but she blocks with her forearms and uses his strength to push herself away from a potential second attack. Obito feels an involuntary sound escape his throat, dizziness and pain blinding his line of sight. The pain of his wounds zap him in waves of aftershock, and he feels the edges of unconsciousness creep up on him.

Some alarm flashes across Tsunade’s face, awareness and understanding braiding her train of thought into a strategy. The noise he’d made clears up the fact that Obito is actually encased inside the wooden creature fighting. She stays back, to think and reassess her approach. Only a few seconds pass, though, and Minato and Kakashi are at her side.

Guruguru stands up, slow and careful with his passengers. “Can’t even move without hearing you drown in your misery. Do you need a bandaid, you little baby?” he teases.

Obito scoffs. “Shut up,” he whispers. “I have a hole in my body. Let’s just get this over with.”

Naruto squirms in his swaddle.

“You’re that Tobi guy,” Minato says. He glares, wordlessly promising a threat. “Where are Obito and Naruto? What did you do?”

Right then, Shiro Zetsu slides out from a tree trunk next to Guruguru. He has an alarmingly long grin stretching across his face as half his body is exposed. “They’re both here,” he says cryptically. His grin widens as he lets out an evil giggle. “You should really watch your punches, Tsunade-hime…”

The Konoha shinobi are very blatantly confused by the statement, eyes distant yet watchful as gears turn in their individual heads. Guruguru takes the opportunity to strike right then. His hands are folded to form the ram seal, and when his fingers part ways, a wooden stake grows out of his left arm. He swipes his arm, aiming directly for Kakashi’s arm. It successfully becomes a projectile, scraping off flesh down to the very bone. Kakashi yells in pain and surprise, grabbing his new wound and leaping off to the sidelines. Guruguru raises his fore and middle finger up in a release seal, and watches in smug glee as the splinters of the wooden stake in his wound duplicate and rip his opened flesh from the inside out.

Kakashi screams even louder out of pure pain. The ruthless lack of hesitation in the attack sets of an alarm system. Nerves are shooting through Minato and Tsunade, however, as a new realization sets in.

Guruguru is using Mokuton.

In all of their surprise, he moves to form the ram seal again. Minato and Tsunade brace themselves for another move, Hiraishin kunai and chakra-fused fists raised. Before Guruguru’s hands part to create another dangerous projectile spear, Tsunade slams her fist into the ground. It splits open the ground, impressive in depth as always, and puts Guruguru off balance. Immediately, Minato takes it as an opportunity for an attack of his own. He throws his three-pronged kunai directly at the hooded creature. He expects a dodge but is unpleasantly surprised by the fact that it’s caught.

Immediately, the face of Guruguru unfurls to reveal Obito’s alarmingly pale and scarred face. Naruto is exposed as well, and that’s what effectively stops the fight.

Minato blanches. “O-Obito—“

“Stop fighting me,” Obito demands curtly. “Don’t follow me. Kuro Zetsu will kill me and Naruto without any hesitation if you do.”

“What…? What are you talking about? Who is Kuro Zetsu?” the Yondaime demands. “Please, Obito. Give my son back to me. He’s barely hours old!”

“Not yet,” Obito murmurs. “Not yet.”

“Why? Why not? Please—“

Minato is swiftly interrupted when wooden stakes shoot out of the surrounding trees. They stab into the ground, and other parts of other surrounding trunks, to trap both the Hokage and the Sannin. Guruguru throws the Hiraishin kunai to Minato’s feet before he could take the chance of teleporting, and his face closes up again.

“Lend some trust to me,” Obito says. “I know your Hiraishin mark has touched us. No sooner, no later—visit in a month’s time, sensei. I’ll be certain to reason with you in much better circumstance then.”

Minato opens his mouth say something, anything, to stop Obito and Guruguru from leaving with Naruto, but the moment his jaw unhinges, and a struggling sound comes out, Guruguru is gone.

Tsunade is staring with wide eyes. Her mouth is tightly knitted, and the blood in her face becomes cold with nerves. She looks to Minato, and lets out a shaky breath of air. “Naruto,” is the only thing she can manage out.

Minato couldn’t blame her. Did that really just happen?

* * *

It must’ve been many long, grueling hours that he’s remains asleep. Kakashi couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so out of it within the fleeting moments of consciousness. Passing images of blurry hospital hallways, a very bright light, numbness. He couldn’t feel his entire body. He could barely hear his heartbeat. T’uhmp, t’uhmp. Very brittle muscles, very thick blood. Darkness overtakes his soul when the bright light says on him. Blue faces, sandy blonde hair. White, sterilized smells. Iron.

Still, he returns from the empty darkness. It isn’t comfortable in the least bit. His arm feels incredibly numb. He’s aware that it’s there, but his muscles refuse to move and his body feels heavy. His mouth smacks, his vision is incredibly blurry. The room he’s in is white, for the most part, with pale grey-blue paint—

Oh. He’s in the hospital, he realizes, and this is his bed. He is a resident because…because…

“Awake, are you? That’s good to see.” A woman in a white coat sits next to him. Glancing at her, he realizes it’s Tsunade-hime. “I had doubts that you would make it. You lost a scary amount of blood.”

Kakashi blinks. Did he, really? He opens his mouth to speak, but no words can come out. His throat is full of ash, and breathing through his mouth makes him cough. Immediately, though, he stops. His arm screams at him to never move again, with the opposite shoulder agreeing with soreness.

Tsunade holds a cup of water up to his mouth, pulling his face mask down without any questions. She doesn’t receive any protests, either, but Kakashi didn’t want to protest. He takes baby sips of the water, cautious of any movements. He grimaces when the cold and relieving taste of water aches in its journey down his throat, and he shakes his head. “That hurts,” he croaks.

“Hm…that’s quite unfortunate,” she says. “I guess you’ll have to stay on a liquid diet during your stay if drinking water is painful.”

“What happened,” Kakashi finally says. “I don’t remember what happened.”

Tsunade leans back in her rolling chair, setting the cup of water aside. “Well, you nearly died,” she starts. “You lost a lot of blood. And…I mean a lot. Pints and pints of blood needed to be donated. You went through your last one just an hour ago. Your surgery was very risky, but successful. I had to pull out every single Mokuton splinter in your arm and stabilize your shoulder wound at the same time. If you don’t heal properly, you’ll never be able to return to duty.”

Alarm widens Kakashi’s eye. He lets out a careful and small sigh. “Were my wounds really that bad…?” he drawls, entirely disbelieving and admittedly scared for the first time in what seems like forever.

“When you got stabbed in the shoulder, the wooden stake didn’t just pierce your bone and flesh. It shattered your scapula into three separate pieces,” she explains. “Shōsen Jutsu could only do so much to assist the healing process. At the very least, you won’t need any plates or nails in your bones. As long as you sit, rest, and completely heal up, Kakashi, you will fully recover and be able to return without many problems. I will be referring you to some physical therapy, though—just for the sake of long term security. You don’t need anymore old scars to hurt you in the winter.”

He remains silent, alienated from his surroundings by recollection. He feels pain blossoming in his arms again, and his lips press together to bear with it. Despite the horrors of his current situation, ones of which will be leaving him in crisis, he finds that his thoughts drift to to Obito. There is no doubt in his heart or mind that his long-dead friend is actually dead anymore. The wounds, though…his wounds, caused by Obito…sure, they weren’t tight like brothers. Kakashi has always missed the eccentric Uchiha, before and after the boulder incident, but he kept a cold distance away because of the hurt Sakumo’s suicide caused, the toll the war was taking, and the heavy expectations of a prodigy. Surely, though, the cold distance wasn’t so bad that—not one, but two—dangerous wounds had to be inflicted. The demeanor the Uchiha had during the battle…

It had been working entirely off the survivor’s fundamental of kill, or be killed.

“I will get you some painkillers,” Tsunade says. She stands, brown eyes meeting a grey eye with a sense of acknowledgement, maturity, and respect that she never had for him ever before.

“Thanks,” he murmurs, his voice crawling out in a rasp. He swallows some heavy saliva to push down unnecessary coughing, and drops his gaze to the white bed sheets. He doesn’t bother with his thoughts any longer. He closes his eye; the visual of Obito’s mask shattering is replaying over and over again until he’s basking in a painful slumber.

When Tsunade returns, she doesn’t try to wake him up. She only instructs the nearest nurse with giving him the selected painkillers when he wakes up, and promptly departs to attend to other injured shinobi.

* * *

Obito doesn’t quite recall when he falls unconscious, but he knows he does when he finds his toes touching the sludge of the swamp. Normally, being keeled over doesn’t warrant any kind of dreaming. Not so soon, anyways, but time is irrelevant in the abyss.

The dark water isn’t moving. It remains stagnant in ways that indicate the liquid not being a body of water. He wiggles his toes a bit, struggling to move his ankle. He’s peeved at first, but then he freaks out when he realizes that Shiro Zetsu’s flesh is the reason why his movements are so stiff. It’s clamping onto him like sticky goop, a feeling which he’s far too familiar with, and stops his toes from touching the sludge. Familiar light flashes—the flash of swamp lightning, he remembers, and it flickers three times before blaring for a few elongated seconds.

Terror intoxicates his mind right then. He remembers seeing that mangled man inside a silent storm just hours ago—a man who emerged from the gross, thick sludge to call his name. The zaps of fear pushes his body beyond the restriction of the artificial flesh, and he trips onto his backside. His chest is heaving, his skin is clammy, his face is hot, the ground is worn, and the swamp trees are creeping the shit out of him. He doesn’t dare to study the tendrils, never mind even glancing at them. They’ll haunt him forever, he just knows it.

“O…O…O…O…”

A hand, skinny but strong, grabs his shoulder. Ragged breathing scrapes against his ear drums, forcing shivers of fear through every inch of his body. He freezes, not daring to move, look, speak, or even breathe. This thing is all bad news.

“O…Obi…”

Fuck, that ghastly voice is full of so much pain.

“Obi…Obito…” the creature finally manages. “Obito.”

Obito still refuses to move. He lets out a choked sound when another hand grabs his jaw, and pulls his face close to the haunting creature. Its face—it’s fucking mummified, thin yellow strands clinging on for dear vanity’s sake and dried up eyes…no, no, no. He squeezes his one good eye shut and ducks his face away from the thing.

He’s seen plenty of body horror in his short lifetime thanks to the war and his tragic slavery, but he’s never been nose-to-nose with a breathing corpse before. His stomach is twisting and his head is beginning to spin. He refuses to breathe; the scent of the living dead is not something he needs right now. Deities have mercy.

“Wake up!”

The yelling voice of a woman is what pulls him out of that nightmare. His eye snaps open, immediately squinting to properly adjust to the whites and general brightness of the room he’s apparently in. As soon as he registers that he’s no longer in a forest, no longer in Guruguru’s shell, he gasps for air in short, panty breaths, and sits up. Pain stabs at his core, making his sore muscles tense up. His breathing pattern quickens to the point of hyperventilation. He doesn’t realize just how out-of-shape he is until he notices that focused green eyes are locked with his single black eye, a hand on his untouched cheek, and mouth moving with instructions.

Obito can’t quite register the words. He’s distant—specifically, it’s like he’s sitting in the very far backend of a room and there is a teacher all the way at the front lecturing him. An old image, but a new feeling. “Where am I?” he hears himself asking.

The green-eyed woman blinks, a little taken aback by the question as if he should know the answer, but she refrains from that direction. “You’re in a hospital, shinobi-san,” she replies. “You’re safe and sound here. There’s no need to panic.”

“Oh,” is all he manages.

She sighs and leans back. Her hand departs as she crosses her arms. Her expression grows troubled. “You were thrashing in your sleep,” she continues explaining. “I had to wake you up before you hurt yourself.”

“Hurt myself…” he echoes. His hand looms over the hole that Kuro had mercilessly created, and immediately he grimaces. “Oh…”

She stares at him carefully. “You’ve been out for a while,” she states. “A whole week. I expected you to be knocked out for a lot longer, but I guess that wasn’t happening. You were having a nightmare, weren’t you?”

He feels his own hand grab his jaw in a way that mimics the phantom feelings the nightmare had left behind. “Yeah.”

“You came here with two strange men and an infant.”

“Infant!” he exclaims, as he feels his mind begin to rein itself in. “Naruto! Where’s Naruto?”

“Naruto…?” she echoes, bewildered. “U-um…the infant, right? Y-your…child is safe in the newborn ward.”

“Newborn ward…” Obito echoes. He feels his tense, sore muscles relax and slide into a state of relief.

“Yes,” the woman says, keeping her tone neutral but amiable as to not disturb the brittle peace of mind he has. “You’ll be discharged at different times. The newborn, Naruto, will be out much sooner than you.”

“I can leave now,” he states. What the hell is he saying? Sitting up is causing immense pain.

“You know you can’t,” she snaps.

“Yeah…it hurts to breathe,” Obito admits. He sighs, testing out his capacity, and grimaces halfway through. He has to hold his breath to let the intense pain pass before it escapes in the tandem of an opened floodgate. “Are you my nurse?”

“I’m your doctor,” she confirms. “I’m a med-nin. One of the best around. You’re lucky to have crossed paths with me.”

“Ninjutsu…” he thinks aloud. He looks to the cuffs on his wrists. “They’re deactivated.”

“Yes,” the med-nin says. “I deactivated them. I had enough fūinjutsu knowledge to do it. They took a pretty bad toll on you, shinobi-san. They’re nothing but trouble.”

“I can’t do anything about them,” he grumbles. “I don’t care enough now. I just want to take of Naruto now…”

“Do you need help?”

He looks to her curiously. “Help…? With raising him?”

She smiles. “I know your line of work. You need tips and learning. Rest up, and I’ll do what I can for you.”

He blinks slowly and disbelievingly. This stranger is genuinely willing to help. “What’s the catch?” he asks skeptically.

Her brow twists. “There is no catch, shinobi-san,” she points out. “Well…I guess not killing the kid counts as a catch.”

“Oh…yeah. Good idea…” he drones. “Thanks.”

“It’s no problem,” the doctor replies. She leans forward a little, grabbing a clipboard from the side of his hospital bed and pulling a pen out of her coat pocket. “So, the kid’s name is Naruto. Right?”

He stares at her as she works, observant yet controversially dazed out of a right mind. “Yeah…”

She scribbles some sentences down. “And you?”

“Me?”

The woman sighs in near-exasperation. “Yes, you. What is your name?”

He blinks as he processes the question. “…Oh. Yeah. I’m Obito.”

She pauses and stares at him, studying his face with an unwavering expression. He nearly glares at her to give warning, but she averts her gaze right before he allows himself to do so. She writes some more sentences, and clicks her pen when she’s done. “Very good. Thank you, Obito-san. Lay back down. You need to rest. If you can’t sleep because of pain, then I can give you some medicine. You only need to ask.”

“Okay,” he replies. As she stands and begins to walk towards the room’s exit, though, he finally processes the conversation. He should’ve said Tobi…and he should ask before she goes. “What’s your name, sensei?”

She stops dead in her tracks, obviously thinking before she turns her face over her shoulder to face him. “I am Haruno Sakura,” she says confidently. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Obito-san. Have a good rest of your night.”

The hospital door clicks shut without any parting words from Obito, but he’s okay with that. For now he needs to find a way to lay back down without causing excruciating amounts of pain or new bleeding.

The next time he wakes up, he’ll handle the situation at hand. He doesn’t want to, truthfully, but he will.

He has to.


End file.
